Thursday, December 8, 2016

State Funds St. Jude Expansion, Growing Pinch District and Children Hospital's Mission

ALSAC CEO Richard Shadyac speaks on the St. Jude Expansion that will create 1,800 new jobs.

The state of Tennessee will invest $12 million to improve the public infrastructure surrounding St. Jude, growing the Children Hospital's mission and revitalizing the nearby Pinch District.

"We have a state full of people with their hearts in the right place," said Governor Bill Haslam during a news conference at the hospital's campus on Thursday. "The beauty of what St. Jude does is that people all over the world rush to help every day. I don't know anywhere else like St. Jude that has a constituency so broad based and committed to this mission."

An additional investment of $25 million in public infrastructure projects by the city of Memphis will expand the nearby Pinch District, developing it into a commercial area.

"All of the city, state and county money spent here is going to be spent on infrastructure in the Pinch District outside the gates of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital," said ALSAC president and CEO Richard Shadyac. "Little if any of the money is going to be spent on the St. Jude Campus."

The expansion will create 1,800 new jobs.

"Our great Founder Danny Thomas knew after he visited Memphis if there was any community in the world that would ultimately make St. Jude a success, it was this great city," Shadyac said. "Today marks another commitment that we will not stop searching for cures at St. Jude until no child anywhere, not just in Memphis or in Tennessee, suffers from cancer or the side effects of pediatric cancer."